Magyar Hírek, 1985 (38. évfolyam, 2-26. szám)

1985-04-06 / 7-8. szám

The Széchényi Library in Buda Castle The massive palace-complex of Buda Castle suffered serious damage three times in its his­tory. First during the Turkish occupation, then when the Castle was taken in 1686, and the last time in 1944—45. The excavation of its medieval parts, and the reconstruction of the whole began in 1949. A decision was taken in 1959 that the Palace should serve cultural and public educa­tional purposes after reconstruction. The Buda­pest Historical Museum opened there in 1967, then the National Gallery in 1972, and the Castle Theater in 1978, and since the 4th April 1985 the National Széchényi Library is being housed there. The National Széchényi Library was given room in a wing rebuilt by Miklós Ybl, then by Alajos Hauszmann in a neo-baroque style. It was the home of Regent Horthy until 1944, after which it lay in ruins for a long time. After a re­construction programme that lasted almost a quarter of a century, construction work was completed late in 1983, and the Library began to move in last October. A collection of six million items 1 walked around the Library a number of times before the opening, first with a map in hand lest I get lost. All of the six hundred members of the staff were feverishly working, unpacking boxes, putting the books in their place. The full collection of the Library (books, maps, journals, sheet-music, microfilms) comprises about six million items. The various departments (copy­right deposit, map room), library of theatrical history etc.) were moved into this single building from various parts of the city. Lack of a suffi­cient number of telephone lines, caused by delay in the construction of the new Krisztina Ex­change, made the moving operations extremely difficult. An exhibition arranged for the ceremonial opening under the title Collectors and Patrons displays the efforts of Count Ferenc Széchényi, the founder, in developing his library, which he donated to the nation in 1803, as a collection of Hungarica. He acquired all local and foreign publications of Hungarian relevance, spending a fortune on them. The Library was moved to the National Museum in 1849, and operated there up to the present. The acquisition of Count Jó­zsef Apponyi’s collection of foreign Hungarica in 1925, and the re-acquisition of medieval MSS that were taken to Vienna during the centuries of Habsburg rule—among them Anonymus’s Gesta Hungarorum—; or the Képes Krónika (Il­lustrated Chronicle) and several MSS that had been part of the library of King Matthias Cor­­vinus in 1932 were outstanding events from the aspect of the growth of the Library. True to the noble intentions of its founder, this National Hungarian Library so being operated 62 as a public library open to readers for research, study and self-improvement. Room for 700 readers Store rooms and technical equipment are on the 1st and 2nd levels together with a photo­graphic laboratory, copying facilities and the book-binding workshop. The 3rd ard 4th level accomodate various work-rooms and restorers workshops. An imposing marblecovered entrance hall, the cloak room and the offices of the man­agement occupy the 5th level. A lecture hall, exhibition rooms, and reading roooms of special collections are on the 6th level, while the cata­logues and great, well-lit reading rooms are on the 7th. A total of some seventy thousand books line the free access shelves of these, and simul­taneously accomodate seven hundred readers! Those who ever had to wait impatiently at the old premises of the library when there were no seats will surely appreciate the extra room. The upper level accommodates a refreshment room with wide windows and the special library of librarianship. Two multilevel store-rooms ad­join the building equipped with a telelift, special book-forwarding equipment made in Western Germany. The total length of the lines it serves is 1 kilometer. The programmed book carriers automatically deliver their load to where it is wanted. A meeting of the library-building and equiping section of the International Federation of Librar­ians’ Associations will be held in June; the 2nd Meeting of Hungarian Librarians on 25th-26th August arranged by the World Association of Hungarians and the Association of Hungarian Librarians; and an extensive exhibition will open in September entitled The Book and the Library in Medieval Hungary. The once world-famous Corvina-library of King Matthias Corvinus used to stand in the immediate vicinity of the gothic Chapel built by King Louis the Great, and restored a few years ago. This is how Bishop Miklós Oláh described it in his early 16th century memoir Hungária: “Besides its site and Royal Palace, Buda was famous for its library. There were two great halls there opposite one-another with a gallery between them leading to the Chapel of Saint John—this is where the King used to listen to music. One of the two halls was filled with Greek books. The other, the inner hall stored manu­scripts, which covered the whole realm of the Latin language...” Undoubtedly, our national Library can at the most look on Matthias’s Corvina library as a distant forebear but I still think the fact that the Széchényi Library received a new home in the vicinity of Matthias’s ancient library also exem­plifies the restoration of historical continuity. ÄDÄM BALÁZS New Congress Centre in Budapest The Budapest Congress Centre was opened on the 20th February with a ceremonial concert. György Lehel conducted the Budapest Symphony Orchestra in Kodály’s Psalmus Hungaricus and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, as it were indicating that the Congress Hall will also be used for con­certs and recitals when not otherwise booked. The completion of the Centre backs the greatly increased role of conventions in Hungarian tour­ist trade. At least this is what Hungarian travel agents expect. A new National Council for Con­ventions is being organized which is a special committee of the National council of Tourism. The Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Municipal Council of Budapest and the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce are all represented in the Council by delegates. The Council will not deal with operative tasks, which will be handled by the Convention Office of the National Tourist Bureau. The role of the Office will be principally to popularize Hungary as a convention centre, and to co-ordinate the activities of local organizers. It is evident, that the Council as well as the Office are the fruit of the new Congress Centre, since important conventions held in Hungary earlier as well and there will be many more in the future outside the walls of the new Centre, in hotels or in the Budapest Sports Hall. It should also be added that marketing, and popularizing the Centre will be the responsibility of Pannónia Hotels, its owner-manager enterprise. The Centre is a beautiful building and its technical refinements are truly fascinating. The technical equipment built accounted for about 60 per cent of the total cost of the project. Ran­dom examples of these are the air-conditioned piano store-room, complete with piano elevators, the computer system that controls the whole of the equipment, facilities for TV and radio broad­casts, which satisfy almost any requirement, the up-to-date simultaneous translation system, the projector system capable of showing any type of cassettes or films, the excellent acoustics etc. Just what the building can do will soon be known. There is considerable interest, many organizations want to hire the Centre for general meeting or balls. There will be no shortage of really important events either, since the 13th Congress of the HSWP was held right there in March and later in the autumn the European Cul­tural Forum. Some 60 per cent of the capacity of the Centre is already booked out for the next ten months. (szebeni) *

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